Traitor
by Ed's Tomato
Summary: A member of the Brotherhood is found to have been planted by the Friends of Humanity. Toad will have to determine her fate: will she be executed or turned back on the enemy she served as a double agent?
1. Chapter 1

_This is a work of fan-fiction and not for profit. The characters contained herein are not my own, though the plot is. The character Meltdown (Tabitha Smith) is more commonly seen in X-Force or the New Mutants, but is playing the part of the Brotherhood here, as she does in all my stories. Rated for violence, language and scenes of a sexual nature. If this bothers you, please take heed.  
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_**Traitor.**_

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_**Chapter One:  
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The pounding of her own heart echoed the flurry of footsteps as she ran through the dark street knowing she wouldn't escape. Silence was a luxury not afforded her. A scream caught just behind the frenzied breathing as she pushed herself to lengths she never thought she could reach. She knew she wouldn't get away.

They knew. They'd found her out.

There was a growl somewhere off to her left. Sabretooth. There was a sinister chuckle that echoed off the damp brick walls around her. Toad. Mystique would be there too, but she wouldn't hear her until she was on the ground. Tabitha knew she had precious seconds of life left and she didn't want to waste them. She wouldn't beg, she promised herself. She wouldn't cry. She would run until they killed her and at least she'd die moving. She couldn't remember the last time she'd stopped running.

She threw herself at the low hanging fire escape ladder, hoisting and grunting and climbing despite that damp that threatened to slip her. The metal was cold against her fingers, biting at rough edges and leaving blood raining unnoticed below her. Her powers would not avail her. This was the Brotherhood and they would catch her. They would execute her. She wouldn't beg. She knew she might cry.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. A fresh start built on a lie that was yanked out from under her and exposed to the light. It all crumbled away. A sob escaped her lips as she forced herself on, flying up the ladder. She slipped once, twice, stealing precious seconds. Leaving her bruised and aching. She'd been so silly to think she could leave it all behind. She was everything that they thought she was and worse.

Blonde and pretty, she'd come to the Brotherhood as their friendly face. The centerfold that posed as a mutant hero. She wasn't well liked, even from the beginning. Everyone had a problem with someone as good looking and perky taking a place in a team comprised of tortured freaks. The tortured freaks weren't the type to welcome with open arms on their best days, and this was too much to ask. They'd made it hard for her. Made her more than earn her place, but she had.

_A year after she'd come to the island she was sitting in Toad's lap and watching a football game. Sabretooth was in an armchair with a beer, and Raven was leaning over the back of the sofa, hands braced as she studied the game they all had money on. None of them really cared about the outcome of the game, but they had fun goading one another and collecting the loser's money. She'd spent a night or two with Toad but their relationship was comprised more with flirting and taunting one another than anything serious. He pinched her hip and motioned to the coffee table for his beer and she retrieved it for him. He had an arm lazily circling her waist and was leaning back comfortably._

_This was the life. Tabby jeered at the screen when their team fell a few yards behind. Sabretooth laughed and tossed a piece of popcorn into her cleavage when she was distracted. The rest of the team laughed at that. When it was over and the losers had paid their small fortunes, Toad gave Tabby a piggyback ride to his room, already having decided he was going to have her. He bit and licked and tickled his way into her panties, and they fucked well into the night. She wasn't the team slut, but they were all loose in the moral department. They needed each other. They shared beds, shared showers, shared pain and death._

It was why her treachery was so unforgivable.

The rain couldn't have come as a worse time. She lunged over the lip of the building and slipped, going down hard, face first, her chin slamming into the concrete, her mouth filling with blood. She felt the laugh behind her even before she heard it. Toad.

"I know you didn't think you'd get away, Pretty."

He was sauntering around behind her, relaxed. She didn't pose a threat and he knew it. He would execute her, doubtless, but Toad liked to play.

"So where'd you think you were goin', mmm?"

Getting her hands beneath her she pushed up, surprised despite herself when she felt his boot on her back, pushing her back down.

"Answer me, lovely. Just felt like a jog, did you?"

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," She choked around the blood in her mouth, feeling a tooth tumble free in the rush of liquid and get lost out into the dark.

"I bet you are," Toad laughed, moving to squat before her, and reaching to lift her chin in his hand. He clucked his tongue in admonition. "Lost a tooth, kitten, won't look very pretty in your casket."

She looked up at him, eyes glittering with the tears she was trying to hold back. It didn't matter. Rain slid down over her features, her clothes were wetting, soaking through. He didn't seem to mind.

"You gonna cry, princess? Y'dare gonna cry? Snake's don't get to cry." He swung at her, hard and fast and her face slammed to the side, blood flying in an arc and spattering to mix with the rain. She heard her own voice, whimpering as though from far away. She stared up at the falling rain and the moonlight grainy behind dark clouds. She sucked in a shaking breath and didn't try to get up.

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry really isn't good enough," Toad told her dispassionately, appearing above her and lashing out suddenly with his boot. She felt rips crack and break with such searing agony that for a long moment she couldn't breathe enough to scream. Her body was thrown on it's side with the blow. She couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't have begged to save her soul.

"I'd like to cut you up," Toad continued in amicable tones, "Like to feed you little pieces of yourself after I roast them and butter them up a bit. But Magneto says there isn't time. Pity. If you hadn't bullocked things up so bad I could at least enjoy this. But, I'll make do. It'll be short, but I bet it won't feel like it to you."

She was finally able to make a hysterical inhuman moan and he chuckled, moving to stand over her again, feet planted on either side of her abused body.

"Does it hurt, love? Tell me it hurts." He sounded eager to hear it, reaching a cruel hand down to press into the broken ribs. She opened her mouth in a silent scream, blood erupting to war with the rain that tried to enter her. She wondered for a horrified moment if she would drown. She didn't think he'd let her live that long.

He relented a moment, wanting to hear her speak.

"No Daddy," She choked out, nearly inaudible through the burble of blood.

Another laugh this time.

"Daddy? Oh baby you should have told me you had a Daddy fetish, I would have loved to punish you. But no time now doll, Daddy's angry."

"Daddy made me," She managed at length, glad for his tirade to gather her inner strength.

He paused a moment and crouched down over her, "Now that's one I haven't heard before. Go on, Tabby, tell me how Daddy made you."

"He...sent me. I...thought it was...over. Thought he couldn't find me....I don't know how...how he did. I don't know."

He reached to stroke her cheek with feigned affection, "Why would Daddy send you, pet?"

"F..f...Friends of..."

"Humanity," He supplied, "Daddy's FOH? Hmm...well that merits a chat with Mags. Maybe you've bought yourself a few more hours, love. Pity, I was looking forward to chucking your traitorous arse off the ledge and watching you hit pavement."

She was surprised that he didn't try to hurt her further when his arm scooped beneath her knees and the other behind her back and he lifted her off the ground against his chest, but she supposed he wanted her to survive as long as possible to speak to Magneto. It didn't matter how careful he was, her broken ribs were the kind of pain that was suffocating. Her head fell back limply, and she focused on the rain hitting her cheeks and the taste of copper in her mouth.

"Stay with me, Tabitha," Toad's voice was a little more familiar now, a little less the cold cruel tone he used on strangers.

His arm shifted her a little closer, cradling her against him how he had when she'd been injured in missions so many times. Head spinning with pain as it was now, she could almost trick herself into believing he was protecting her as he had before. She heard other footsteps approach as he carried her, but didn't open her eyes. A soft rasping sound she identified as Raven's approach, a sharper thud was Vic.

"She's still breathing," Raven sounded disapproving and Toad grunted above her, and Tabby imagined that Toad tightened his grip ever so slightly.

"Th'bitch has information. Said someone made'er. F'we got bigger players, figure we gotta know b'fore we bury her."

"Don't you go soft, Mortimer," Raven seethed quietly, sounding as deadly as ever.

"I'm not sodding soft. She'll still die screaming."


	2. Chapter 2

_**Traitor**_

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**_Chapter Two:_**

She couldn't stand when facing Magneto, but simply sat with her knees tucked beneath her and her hands planted on the floor to take some of the pressure off her ribs, where Toad had left her. He was standing somewhere behind her and to the left. She could feel his presence even though she couldn't move enough to look as she related her tale.

She had fed information to the Friends of Humanity about the Brotherhood's activity, but it had only lasted for a month after her initial joining. She explained why, through thick tears and trembling lips. Her father was one of the founders of the Roanoke chapter of the Friends of Humanity. He and his cronies had found an amazing opportunity in Tabitha's emergence as a mutant. They had a spy. A creature they could control, they thought, without argument. But, life at the Brotherhood had changed the young woman, shown her there were other options. She'd wanted to tell her new allies, but she'd been afraid of their reaction to her admitted deceit.

Magneto was silent while he listened to her, staring down imperiously from where he stood. There came a point when she'd stopped making sense and was blubbering, and he held a hand up in irritation for Toad to come and get her. She flinched when she felt his deceptively gentle hands come up beneath her arms and help her to her feet. She was still begging for mercy from Magneto when he gave up trying to get her walking and scooped her into strong arms, despite her panicked protests.

This was it, was all she could think. This would be the end of her life. She would feel the sharp end of his blade soon, or those gentle hands cradling her face and breaking her neck. She was crazy with pain and fear, so it took her a moment to hear Toad's whisper in her ear.

"Easy. Easy. Easy."

His hand pat her hip where he could reach from where his arm supported her quaking thighs. The other arm cradled her in against his chest, tucked in so that his lips rested against her lobe. The easy lope of his gait was oddly soothing as he removed her from Magneto's presence.

She hiccuped through her sobs, keeping her eyes shut tight as he carried her down the hall, and into the med lab where he laid her down on a table. He left her for a moment, replaced by the cold recirculated breeze of the air conditioner, that got her shivering. A moment later a warm wet cloth rubbed away the blood on her face with slow practiced gentleness. His thumb moved her lips aside to look at the space in front where she'd lost a tooth, and then smoothed back her hair with his calloused palm.

"Open your eyes, kitten. Lookit me."

She didn't want to look. She didn't want to see what she presumed was her imminent death. Training had been thorough, though, and his commanding tone brought her to compliance, big blue eyes blinking away the tears that had settled beneath her lids. She expected the slight smirk but there was a hint of concern worn into the light lines of a long suffered face.

"No concussion then, had m'doubts th'way you were talkin."

"Don't kill me, Mort...Oh God, don't kill me...please, don't kill me."

The familiarity brought a dark look to his eyes for a moment, of mixed anger and regret, but he simply chuckled and smoothed her hair back again. "Cor, y'look so scared, Tabitha. I ain't seen you this scared since y'first mission, useless little prat you were. Does it seem's though I'm killing you, pet? You've got a reprieve, for th'moment, anyway. Mags figures maybe we can use y'back against th'FOH. Hold still, love. Y'ribs are a mess."

She wore out her voice screaming as he worked on her, and wrapped her ribs up tight; but when he'd finished she knew he'd at least done a thorough job. He lifted her up again, and she was too tired to fight or even ask where they were headed. She hung in his arms like a doll, skin waxy and pale, eyes bruised and dark.

The last thing she would have expected was to stay in his room, but she didn't argue when they reached it. When he put her down on the mattress and pulled the blankets up to her chin, he sat at the end of the bed and watched her with an unreadable expression.

"Alright, now, let's hear th'rest of it."

"What?"

"Th'part you didn't tell Mags. I know you, Tabitha. I know there's more."

When she remained silent, he continued, "Y'know, most kids tell their parents t'fuck off, an don't let them use them as a murder weapon. I been around, love. I kidnapped kids f'leverage before that go into a right rage when they realize what bloody monsters their parents are. When their parents choose their fucked beliefs over their own flesh an blood, they turn on 'em quick as they get through their tears. Ties are strong, some of 'em never break, never believe me, but you wasn't like that, were you, kitten? You knew he was a monster and a git straight off, mmm? But you was afriad, weren't you? Even when he wasn't here. That's a special kind of fucked. So tell Mort, what you wouldn't tell Magneto. Tell me what he did to you."

Big blue eyes stared up at him, through the fear and the pain and the disbelief. She could scarcely believe for a long moment before the words started to stumble out.

"What makes...what makes you think...?"

"He must've hurt you," Toad mused, " Abuse is good for brainwashing, 'specially if the started good an' young. When did he start? When he found out you were a mutant?"

The girl shook her head, unable to find her voice.

"Before, then. When y'were real little? I always wondered about you, kitten, you might've been a right horror to train, but you never questioned y'were supposed to obey me."

She started to nod, unable to help it, tears sliding hot down her cheeks. She reached up to press her palms to her eyes, not so much to stifle her tears but to hide them from his knowing look. The pain in her ribs was intense, but she found she'd rather it than face him. Misery shot through her like fire, leaving an ache where it had passed.

The bed shifted as he moved up beside her and began to pet her hair.

"He fucked you, didn't he? " His voice was soft and not quite apologetic, "When y'were right little, I expect. Before you knew exactly what he was doing. Before you knew enough to say no. That why you called me Daddy, when I was inside you?"

She sobbed at that accusation, unable to contain the helplessness that boiled up inside her. It frothed and churned, making her feel empty and lost and she was naked to his scrutiny. Mort slid an arm beneath her and pulled her carefully close to him, just petting her hair and kissing her forehead.

"Shh. Shh. Hush now, precious, hush now. Y'safe tonight, Daddy's here."

Exhaustion claimed her. The fear he always instilled brought a sort of familiar comfort to her. In his arms, there was no one more dangerous. He held her life and only he could choose to squash or nurture it. There was a kind of safety in that, one to focus on, and all control relinquished to him. His presence let her sleep, with his permission, of course.

She slept long and deep, a healing restorative sleep. Arms tight around her all night and protecting his investment. He hadn't been exaggerating about her training having been a pain. He was beyond enraged that his trust and work had all been so misplaced. The girl had been temperamental, acted out like a child at times, come on strong like a temptress moments later. She'd been full of rage and fight, but oddly still obedient and excited to be a part of a family. He understood better now. He probably represented the first authority figure she could rebel against in her whole young life. Despite how he held her life in his hands, she had been made to know that he was family. That he might hurt her or punish her, but never unjustly, and never to the lengths she'd known previously.

There had been so many long nights of training her. Days of dragging her out of bed, and chasing her down the beach to force her to run for as long as he deemed necessary. Hiding the booze from her greedy little fingers, and pouring her into bed when he hadn't done a thorough enough job. And nightmares. Catching her as she'd run screaming into his room in the middle of the night. Holding her as she'd sobbed and knowing he should push, and not doing it. Trying to be a good man and give her space when his instincts said he should know everything there was to know about his charge. He paid for it now and it burned inside him, ate at him with barely contained anger.

He would have relished seeing her corpse hit the pavement that night, but it wouldn't have been good enough after. Now he was torn between anger and pity that bordered on kinship. This little damaged girl that had fallen into his grasp. As she slept, he pet her cheek with his thumb and studied her perfect features.

He hadn't wanted her. A mutant who looked human. Who could pass and was pretty to boot. The prettiest he'd ever seen. He'd been angry that someone so lovely would be accepted into this Brotherhood of freaks. He hadn't thought she'd fit. As he caught her from her nightmares, he'd begun to see that there was more to the girl. Her pretty face had become dear to him and she'd been little sister and lover and perhaps something like a friend.

Now, things were more complicated. He wanted to hurt and to hold her. He wanted to punish her more severely than ever before and he wanted to rock her and keep her and protect her. It was maddening. He restrained himself, and obeyed his orders and opted to keep her in arms reach for now, lest she attempt escape or something more heartbreaking.

When her eyes fluttered open many hours later he was still there, watching her without expression and thumbing her cheek. He saw her hope and fear and falter in rapid succession before she parted plump broken lips.

"You didn't sleep any?"

"Too wound up. Y'really cocked everything all up, sweetheart."

"I know," Her voice was soft and uncertain, and rampant with apology.

"Nearly got away with it too, if we hadn't been scanning old transmissions. Would you have just kept on then, forever, pretending that you weren't a dirty traitorous bitch?"

"I..no...I would...I don't know. I don't know. I wanted to tell."

"You wouldn't have told. Maybe on y'deathbed if you'd had one. But you'd have kept on lying like the cowardly little bitch you are. I really thought I'd gotten through to you." He stood up from the bed and started to pace, shaking his head and allowing himself to feel some of the anger he'd stowed away.

"You did," She protested, sitting up and wincing at the strain on her ribs, "You did...you mean more to me than..."

"Don't," He cut her off sharply, fixing his gaze on her, "Don't you dare whine and whimper for your life with more lies, Tabitha."

"It's not a lie," She declared defiantly, "You're the only one who ever gave a damn...who was ever there."

"Damn straight I was there," He snarled at her, "When I think of all th'times I hauled your ungrateful ass out of some gutter where you was drunk and sitting in your own puke... I should've left you there! I should've seen what you were."

She shook her head as fat tears rolled down cheeks only starting to regain their color.

"No...No."

"YES," He hissed, "Yes, Tabitha. I should have. I never should have given a damn about a god-damned trollop who was only here to spy."

"I wasn't only here to spy," Tears spilled in rivers down her face as she clutched the blankets for support. "I wasn't! They sent me for that, but I love it here. I love everything about it, I love you!"

He backhanded her before he had time to think, watching her blood spatter from broken lips across the sheets as her body fell back against the headboard. He was shaking with the restraint it took to keep from furthering the damage. His jaw clenched and he took a moment before he climbed over the bed to sit back on her thighs and reach for her chin. Her face was bruised where he'd struck her and her eyes were fearful and wounded as she tried to flounder for words but he beat her there.

"You will never say that again. Is that understood, Tabitha?"

She bobbed her chin minutely in his grasp.

"I don't think you understand the very real danger you're in," He murmured sternly, holding her gaze. "When Magneto grows bored with what you can do for him there will be one man and one man only that will get to decide what becomes of you. Your cute face and your tight pussy and your foolish fucking vocabulary is not going to save you, little gel. So, you will think before you speak, and you will not lie and you will not exaggerate or play any of your little fucking games, anymore. Is that understood?"

The little head-bob again and her tears touched his thumb, warm and salty.

"There is a part of me that wants to hurt you, very very much. That wants to hear you scream and cry and beg me. But, not now. You're hurting and I know you're scared, an should be. And despite all you've done, I expect you're still mine, aren't you?"

She nodded again, more eagerly this time. "I promise. I promise."

He leaned down to press his lips to hers in a not-quite chaste fashion, tasting blood and tears before he broke the embrace and murmured, "I'll talk to Magneto. I don't want you seeing him again, unless it's to kill him." He spoke, of course, of her father. "I've enough work to do repairing you without giving him the chance to fuck with you again."

Getting up, he moved toward the door without looking back at the mess he'd left on the bed. He didn't want to admit to himself how painful it was to hear a declaration of love from her. He didn't trust her enough to hear it, not at this low point when their future hung by so tenuous a thread.


End file.
